This was another of the projects we did during our Colonial Life unit. It was super-easy and I loved how the notebooks turned out!
To begin, we found compostition notebooks (the kind where all the pages are sewn together with string and the covers are hard.) I [...]
It just so happens that we're studying chemistry this year AND the Living Arts and Science Center has a special exhibit open called Invisible World: The Beauty of Microscopic Life. Perfect!
Observing prepared slides of all sorts.
Completing a scavenger hunt of the hands-on exhibits.
Making [...]
October/November = lots of falling leaves and lots of candy. What better to do with both of those things? Math, of course! :o)
Whether you have extra M&M's, Skittles, Smarties, Runts, or just a big bunch of assorted candy bars, take a few minutes to turn those sweets into more than [...]
My last baby has (finally) stopped nursing. We've both cried some, but he is a big boy who understands that it's time to move on.
On the positive side, though, I can have dairy and citrus products again! (He's allergic to both and I have truly sacrificed for [...]
Remember the black walnuts we collected to harvest and freeze? Yeah, well, let's just say it turned out a bit like the applesauce experience. What you see below is less that one cup of walnuts, which took at least 45 minutes of my hard labor.
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We did many projects to go along with our Colonial Life unit study, but this one tops the list. Not only were these embroidered hand prints a wonderful handicraft activity, they turned out beautifully, too. So much so, that they are gracing my mantle right now and [...]
Hubby joined in on our nature walk this week. I love when he goes because he always knows where to take us for a new adventure on the farm.
This week was a walk along a creek bed on a neighboring farm that we rent.
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It's hard to believe my littlest one is almost two. Time flies. He's been up to some antics lately that I wanted to be sure to document.....
During a family movie one evening, we made "real" popcorn in a pan on the stove. The following day, Eli was [...]
I promised to show you some of the fun things we're doing as we go through Christian Kids Explore Chemistry. I can't brag enough about this curriculum so far. I don't typically follow any curriculum to a "T" - but this one I am. It is teaching my children [...]
It was COLD in Central KY yesterday. The nature walk part of our study was rather short - a quick trip down to the creek bed to collect a variety of leaves. But once we got home - the learning and fun began!
We started with a review discussion about the purpose [...]
We live in Central KY - what's often called the "Horse Capital of the World". We're surrounded by beautiful horse farms and have the priviledge of living near the Kentucky Horse Park. With so much horse business going on in the area, there are two premier equine hospitals within [...]
Our Creation Club met for the last time until spring. (Boo Hoo) This month's focus was on trees and we were as busy as beavers!
As a warm-up activity, each child was asked to find a leaf from any tree in the area. They had to remember [...]
Well, not exactly!
We've been doing all sorts of hands-on learning during our Colonial History unit and one of the activities I had planned was making butter. At co-op over the years, the kids have had the opportunity to shake cream in baby food jars to make their own butter, so [...]
I'm considering this one of those impromptu fall break days. My house is a wreck. Really. With all the busy fun we've had over the past several days, the house has suffered greatly. So, today is a cleaning day. No school - except for those all important life skills called [...]
Remember Mathwire? Boy, do they have some goodies for the fall season! Below are some of the activities we've done so far.
Candy Corn Triangular Number Pattern
Insect and Spider Problem Solving
And these are on our [...]
Yesterday was Tuesday and that means another busy, but very rich day of learning in our house. After a bit of Bible and math, we went outside for nature study from a distance. Instead of observing God's creation up-close and personal, we took time to view the beautiful [...]
Mahayla surprised me this morning with a very yummy breakfast in honor of my 37th birthday. I wasn't allowed to come downstairs until it was ready - in other words, they made me stay in bed for an extra half-hour! When I was called down, everyone greeted [...]
Saturday was the 146th commemoration of the Battle at Perryville, a Civil War skirmish. With our history cycle focusing on Early American History this year, we couldn't pass up this fun-filled day.
Last week was busy with two other field trips, as well. [...]
I don't think I've mentioned how much we're enjoying chemistry this year. We follow The Well Trained Mind's recommendation of four-year science and history cycles. This year's science cycle is chemistry. The word "chemistry" can certainly be intimidating, but choosing good materials and being sure to have f-u-n is [...]
That's what we did yesterday! All in the name of nature study, of course. :o) With some of Dad's older socks (one white pair and one dark pair) the kids were instructed to run through as many fields, patches of weeds, fence rows - whatever they could find - and [...]
Today was a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L day in Central KY! We took advantage of the perfect afternoon with a nature walk, um ride, to gather hedge apples and black walnuts.
Hedge apples are supposed to keep spiders away. In fact, hedgeapple.com claims these pretty green fruits [...]
What's good about living on a gravel road in a drought? This....
The same child (who wants to be anonymous) made me an early birthday present. It's a new broom made from alfalfa hay. It leaves the most lovely covering of alfalfa leaves on my porch as I [...]
This week's Fine Arts Tuesday finished our study of Monet. I've love his work and could probably spend many more weeks with him as our focus, but it's time to move on.
We've been finding and hearing lots of frogs around the farm lately, so a picture [...]
Remember the Field Trip Journals? We're still using them this year and I couldn't be happier with them. They are proving to make great writing assignments, and I'm finding the kids absolutely love looking through them for the memories. I love to watch the kids sort through brochures, ticket stubs and pictures trying to [...]
What's an eight-year-old boy to do when he's been told he has chores to finish before he watches tv AND his mom asks him to watch the toddler for a few minutes? Well, tie the toddler to a leash and make him do your chores, what else?
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Our nursery at church is lacking in toddler toys, so I put out a plea a few months ago for our church members to look around for free or cheap toys that would be good for adding to the nursery.
Luckily - or so I thought - one of the ladies at [...]
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine sent out some freebie units not too long ago from Highlights of Homeschooling and one of them worked perfectly for our Pilgrims unit study. It's called "The Mayflower Unit Study". (Thank, Nancy, for helping find the authors. And, WOW, the units are very [...]
Happy first full day of fall! Today's Fine Arts Tuesday took us on a nature walk to look for signs of the new season. I had planned to do a slide show of all the seeds, dried flowers, nuts and tinges of color we found, but *apparently* [...]
Last week's fine art Tuesday was so much fun for the kids - while short and simple for me! I asked them to collect items from nature that could be used to create animals or people. When they got home, I simply gave them a hot glue gun, turned on some Beethoven [...]
The walnut trees are beginning to change colors and drop leaves in Kentucky already. While they're still full of nuts, I wanted our nature study time this week to focus on these trees. (Side note: Have you visited Homeschool Launch? I recently set up an [...]
I suppose this is what I get for going back on a promise to myself. After canning well over 200 quarts of veggies and freezing over 30 gallon bags of fruits and veggies, I decided I was done. Finished. No More. I made a promise to myself and let everyone in [...]
I've been waiting a long time to become a mommy. Up until now, I've been a mama. Don't get me wrong, I love being a mama, but there's just something extra-special about being a mommy. :o) This weekend, that sweet word started rolling out of Eli's mouth and I just [...]
Our Native American unit was a tad more independent than most units we've done in the past. I'm trying to allow Mahayla to take on the freedom in learning that she desires, while pushing Caleb toward taking more responsibility for his learning.
Each day's study started out with all of [...]
I recently received TWO wonderful bloggy awards! Shanna from Learning at His Feet has passed on the Smile Award to me. Life is so much happier with smiles, and I'm very glad to know that I've made at least one person smile through this blog! :o) And just for [...]
Tuesdays are such a sweet treat! Nature study, artist study, art projects, composer study, tea time and an afteroon club are making for full and fun days.
Last week's nature study turned out to be working cattle in the barn with dad. I had planned on a nice walk [...]
Do you ever feel like a cruise director in your home? Me too. I don't know about you, but with three kiddos in the house now, among various other home and church duties, I don't have time to stand on "deck" with my clip board in hand [...]
In our quest to learn Early American History this year, we began by studying early American explorers. I used a book from Evan-Moor titled Who Discovered America? as the spine for information, notebooking pages and activity ideas. It seems as if this book might no longer be in print, however. [...]
The green and orange peppers are finally coming on the garden. Freezing them is such a snap that I can have a whole bucket done in about 15 minutes. Wash, cut off the tops, take the seeds out, slice, parboil for three minutes, place in ice water, dry and freeze in ziptop [...]
One week down, 35 to go!
On the first day (as has been her custom since she was a Kindergartener) Mahayla dressed up.
Caleb chose the opposite attire for his first day back.
And Eli....Well, I think this sums up what we can expect from him this year.
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Our first Fine Arts Tuesday has come and gone. What a lovely day it was!
We will soon be listening to Peggy's Violin: A Butterfly in Time (which is a wonderful story of the life of a violin, by the way!) Woven into the story are several classical [...]
Welcome to the Charlotte Mason Carnival Back To School Planning Bash!
This has turned out to be such an exciting and busy carnival that I feel like some sort of festive music should be playing - like you might hear on a merry-go-round. :o) I just know you're going to enjoy [...]
I'm the first to admit that "fitting it all in" is hard. And in the past, to my shame, the first things to go when "school" seemed to be pressing were the richest learning experiences of all - artist study/art opportunities, composer study, and even nature study.
I don't know why [...]
A sinkful of fresh tomatoes in our house turns into about eleven quarts of diced tomatoes!
And here's a new recipe I concocted to use up the canned tomatoes. I had a quart that didn't seal, plus some corn and peppers that needed to be used. [...]
